BAMcinemaFest 2014 Brings An Impressively Diverse Slate To Brooklyn

The sixth edition of BAMcinemaFest, screening at BAM Rose Cinemas and the Steinberg Screen at BAM Harvey Theater from June 18 through June 29, brings a typically diverse and eclectic selection of features, shorts, and retrospective screenings to downtown Brooklyn. This year's festival includes some particularly high-profile New York premieres and events.

BAMcinemaFest opens with Richard Linklater's grand, epic narrative experiment Boyhood, which charts a young man and his family's life over 12 years, shot during exactly that period of time with the same cast. The centerpiece presentation is the New York premiere of Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho's English-language debut Snowpiercer. Other notable festival offerings include the world premiere of the new restoration of Manfred Kirchheimer's 1981 documentary/city symphony Stations of the Elevated, a veritable time capsule which featured the grafitti art that used to adorn New York's subway trains in the 70s and 80s. Les Blank, another great documentarian who passed away last year, gets a tribute on June 19 with an outdoor screening of three of his most famous short films, including the (in)famous Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. The festival will also have the New York premiere of David Wain's They Came Together, a parody/homage/comic deconstruction of romantic comedies starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler.

BAMcinemaFest closes with a classic film by a filmmaker very closely associated with Brooklyn: Spike Lee. The 25th anniversary presentation of his seminal Do the Right Thing will screen on June 29 with Spike Lee, along with his cast and crew, appearing in person to discuss the film. This also kicks off a Spike Lee retrospective that will begin right after the festival ends.

Click through the gallery below for my reviews of 12 of this year's selections. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit BAM's website.

The sixth edition of BAMcinemaFest, screening at BAM Rose Cinemas and the Steinberg Screen at BAM Harvey Theater from June 18 through June 29, brings a typically diverse and eclectic selection of features, shorts, and retrospective screenings to downtown Brooklyn. This year's festival includes some particularly high-profile New York premieres and events.

BAMcinemaFest opens with Richard Linklater's grand, epic narrative experiment Boyhood, which charts a young man and his family's life over 12 years, shot during exactly that period of time with the same cast. The centerpiece presentation is the New York premiere of Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho's English-language debut Snowpiercer. Other notable festival offerings include the world premiere of the new restoration of Manfred Kirchheimer's 1981 documentary/city symphony Stations of the Elevated, a veritable time capsule which featured the grafitti art that used to adorn New York's subway trains in the 70s and 80s. Les Blank, another great documentarian who passed away last year, gets a tribute on June 19 with an outdoor screening of three of his most famous short films, including the (in)famous Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. The festival will also have the New York premiere of David Wain's They Came Together, a parody/homage/comic deconstruction of romantic comedies starring Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler.

BAMcinemaFest closes with a classic film by a filmmaker very closely associated with Brooklyn: Spike Lee. The 25th anniversary presentation of his seminal Do the Right Thing will screen on June 29 with Spike Lee, along with his cast and crew, appearing in person to discuss the film. This also kicks off a Spike Lee retrospective that will begin right after the festival ends.

Click through the gallery below for my reviews of 12 of this year's selections. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit BAM's website.

Netflix is constantly growing in Latin America, and while in Mexico the catalog is still nowhere as big as the North American one, several hotly anticipated TV series, such as Better Call Saul and House of Cards, are greatly helping in order to have more Mexican users. Now Netflix has...
More »

Socrates said, "Know thyself." A more contemporary philosopher from Oklahoma offered, "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Reading many business stories about Hollywood lately, it quickly becomes apparent that few have embraced either the Athenian master or the fine, folksy wisdom of Will Rogers. How else to...
More »

Hollywood's annual pageant of nice dresses and the complex madness of John Travolta went off pretty much as expected - a few less for American Sniper than perhaps I cynically expected, and a few more for Birdman, which ain't Boyhood, but is an off-model enough Best Picture that I can't...
More »

Film Comment Selects, Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual film series that showcases the best films from all corners of the world selected by folks at Film Comment magazine, marks the arrival of spring for New York cinephiles in an otherwise dreadful February/March movie season. This year's selections are as...
More »

"Documentary Fortnight: MoMA's International Festival of Nonfiction Film and Media," which screens at the Museum of Modern Art through February 27, once again brings an impressive array of new films, retrospectives, and installations to New York audiences. Two masters of documentary, Stanley Nelson and Barbara Kopple, open and close the...
More »